Sometime in 2006, I was contacted by a leading auto manufacturer in Nashik, Maharashtra, to investigate and try offer a solution to the high noise level from press operations. Their press shop PU, one of the largest in Asia then, produces die- stamped bodies for a wide range of their SUV's. After the usual exchange of emails, I and my team member set off to do the noise measurements, our suitcases loaded with a variable focus laser doppler vibrometer through an LDS DAQ, as well as quite a few accelerometers and microphones.

Only when I stepped onto the shop floor, did I understand how terrifying the noise level was. Close to 105 ~110 dB at it's peak, nobody was of course permitted to enter without the mandatory ear muffs. It was of course another challenge to communicate orally on the floor as the ear muffs and the 110 dB ambient noise would totally mask even the loudest yell. Anyway, after some 3 days of measurements across various stations, I got back and decided to first do a full scale acoustic modal simulation, modelling the entire press shop domain.